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Shonda Rhimes<\/strong>, the iconic writer and director behind groundbreaking hit shows like Scandal, Bridgerton<\/em> and How To Get Away With Murder<\/em>, has opened up about a moment that almost halted the production of her first TV success, Grey\u2019s Anatomy<\/em>, in its tracks in HBO\u2019s new mini-documentary series.<\/p>\n Seen & Heard<\/em> is a new documentary from Issa Rae<\/strong>, the mind behind HBO\u2019s hit TV series Insecure<\/em>. The Emmy winner set out to explore the legacy of African Americans on television and share exactly how creators like Rhimes, Tyler Perry<\/strong>, Oprah Winfrey<\/strong> and more put their stamps on television\u2019s colorful history.<\/p>\n \ud83c\udfac<\/strong> SIGN UP for Parade’s Daily newsletter to get the latest pop culture news & celebrity interviews delivered right to your inbox<\/strong><\/a> \ud83c\udfac\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s astonishing to me that Grey\u2019s Anatomy<\/em> was the first television show I ever wrote,\u201d reflected Rhimes in Episode 2 of the series, titled \u201cHeard.\u201d \u201cI\u2019m still amazed and really grateful that people are watching it. But I also feel like people were hungry for a certain kind of TV at that time, and we provided it.\u201d<\/p>\n Grey\u2019s Anatomy<\/em> kicks off its 22nd season in October 2025, and much of its success has been attributed to its diverse cast. The spectrum of gender, race, and sexualities was a breath of fresh air when the series first premiered in 2005, and it kicked open the door for a flurry of diverse casting in shows. But when she first set out to cast the show, Rhimes hit a roadblock \u2014 even after telling her casting agent to bring in \u201ceveryone.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d done something, I guess, people didn\u2019t do,” she says. “I hadn\u2019t written anyone\u2019s race into the script.\u201d<\/p>\n While casting the pilot episode of the series, Rhimes \u201ckept saying, \u2018Where are all the actors?\u2019 They would keep sending us these actors who all look the same, who were white. I remember standing up in the room and looking at the president of the network at the time and saying, \u2018I\u2019m not going to have an all white show.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Related: Ellen Pompeo Reveals the \u2018Grey\u2019s Anatomy\u2019 Story She Was \u2018Deeply Against\u2019<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Rhimes recalled everyone around her looking \u201creally startled\u201d and kept repeating, \u201cOf course not, of course not. That\u2019s never been the plan.\u201d Once Rhimes put her foot down on the casting, \u201cthis flood of actors started coming. It was really wonderful. We got to see all these actors who had never been considered for roles other than very small parts.\u201d<\/p>\n But what gave her the gall to quite literally stand up to the network president?<\/p>\n \u201cI just knew that I was not going to make a show that I would\u2019ve been embarrassed to put on TV,\u201d she said in the documentary. \u201cI wasn\u2019t going to make a show that I was going to turn to my parents and go, \u2018Yeah, it has an all white cast, but that\u2019s how TV\u2019s made.\u2019 How was I going to say that to my dad?\u201d<\/p>\n The main lesson Rhimes, as well as the documentary\u2019s executive producer Issa Rae, tries to leave with Black and minority creatives is to trust their gut \u2013 and hold steadfast in creating the stories they want to tell, and to find ways to tell them despite what the Hollywood systems in place might think.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you\u2019re trying to be creative in a world in which you are afraid, I think a fearlessness is necessary,\u201d concluded Rhimes.\u00a0Grey\u2019s Anatomy <\/em>was just the beginning for Rhimes, who went on to executive-produce shows like Private Practice, Scandal, How To Get Away With Murder, Bridgerton, Station 19, Inventing Anna<\/em>, and, most recently, The Residence<\/em><\/a>. She is currently estimated to be worth<\/a> over $240 million.<\/p>\n Related: ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Returns for Season 22 \u2013 With One Possible Cast Departure<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n This story was originally reported by Parade<\/a> on Sep 11, 2025, where it first appeared in the TV<\/a> section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yahoo.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Shonda Rhimes, the iconic writer and director behind groundbreaking hit shows like Scandal, Bridgerton and How To Get Away With Murder, has opened up about a moment that almost halted the production of her first TV success, Grey\u2019s Anatomy, in its tracks in HBO\u2019s new mini-documentary series. Seen & Heard is a new documentary from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2013303,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[319835,368670,351253],"class_list":["post-2013302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-greys-anatomy","tag-issa-rae","tag-shonda-rhimes"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Shonda-Rhimes-Reveals-Why-She-Almost-Stopped-\u2018Greys-Anatomy-Before.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2013302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2013302"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2013302\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2013303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2013302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2013302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2013302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}